saint's heart stolen from cathedral. The preserved heart of Dublin's patron saint, one of Catholic Ireland's most revered relics, has been stolen from the city's Christ Church Cathedral. It is the latest in a puzzling series of thefts of religious artefacts across the country. The saint's heart , which once beat in the body of Saint Laurence O'Toole, vanished from the Saint Lauds Chapel within the cathedral grounds at some point between midnight and 12.30 on Saturday afternoon.The 12th-century relic has no obvious financial value and would be almost impossible to sell. But the church said the thief or thieves specifically targeted it, ignoring gold candlesticks and chalices to break into its iron cage box. The bars were found bent, probably, staff said, prised open with metal cutters.
Around 40 people visited the church before the alarm was raised at lunchtime, but police have not ruled out the possibility that the culprits hid in the cathedral overnight to give themselves time to break the cage. There were no signs of a break-in and one member of staff reported a candle still alight when they first arrived to open the cathedral yesterday. Gardai are reviewing CCTV and have asked for witnesses to come forward.

Saint Laurence's heart has inspired pilgrimages to Dublin since medieval times. Born Lorcan Ua Tuathail in Castledermot, Co Kildare, in 1128, Laurence (Lorcan) O'Toole was appointed archbishop of Dublin after the death of Archbishop Gregory in 1162. He wore a hair shirt and spent 40 days every year retreating in Saint Kevin's cave near Glendalough. He died in Normandy in 1180, and was canonised in 1225 after reports of miracles at his tomb. Saint Laurence's skull was interred at a church in Lancashire, but his bones disappeared during the Reformation.

The dean of Christ Church Cathedral, the Rev Dermot Dunne, said he was "devastated" by the theft. "It is a priceless treasure that links our present foundation with its founding father," he said. A church spokeswoman added: "It's completely bizarre. They didn't touch anything else. They specifically targeted this. They wanted the heart of Saint Laurence O'Toole."

The theft comes on the heels of a raid on Saint Brigid's Church in Killester, north Dublin, when a rare reliquary – an ornate container for relics – was stolen from the altar in January. Police last year also investigated the theft of artefacts said to come from the cross on which Jesus was crucified, a claim authenticated by the Vatican. Thieves used hammers and angle grinders to break into a display case at Holycross Abbey in Co Tipperary last October. The stolen items, including a gold and bronze cross, were recovered by Gardai and returned to the church early this year.
Christ Church Cathedral Overview
Christ Church Cathedral (or, more formally, The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity) is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the Ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the Church of Ireland.  It is situated in Dublin, Ireland and is the elder of the capital city's two mediæval cathedrals, the other being St Patrick's Cathedral.Overview


Christ Church Cathedral - Dublin
Christ Church is officially claimed as the seat (cathedra) of both the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic archbishops of Dublin. In practice, it has been the cathedral of only the Church of Ireland's Archbishop of Dublin, since the English Reformation. Though nominally claimed as his cathedral, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin uses St Mary's in Malborough Street in Dublin as his pro-cathedral (acting cathedral).
Christ Church Cathedral is located in the former heart of medieval Dublin, next to Wood Quay at the end of Lord Edward Street. However a major dual carriage-way building scheme around it separated it from the original medieval street pattern which once surrounded it, with its original architectural context (at the centre of a maze of small buildings and streets) lost due to road-building and the demolition of the older residential quarter at Wood Quay. As a result the cathedral now appears dominant in isolation behind new civil offices along the quays, out of its original medieval context.
Christ Church is the only one of the three cathedrals or acting cathedrals which can be seen clearly from the River Liffey.

Last years and death in Normandy

Archbishop Lorcán left Ireland in 1179 to attend the Third Council of the Lateran in Rome, accompanied by five other bishops. From Pope Alexander III he received a papal bull, confirming the rights and privileges of the See of Dublin. Alexander also named him as papal legate. On his return to Ireland he kept up the pace of reform to such an extent that as many as 150 clerics were withdrawn from their offices for various abuses and sent to Rome.
In 1180, he left Ireland for the last time, taking with him a son of Ua Conchobair's as a hostage to Henry. He meant to admonish Henry for incursions against Ua Conchobair, contrary to the Treaty of Windsor. After a stay at the Monastery of Abingdon south of Oxford - necessitated by a closure of the ports - he landed at Le Tréport, Normandy, at a cove named after him, Saint-Laurent. He fell ill and was conveyed to St. Victor's Abbey at Eu. Mortally ill, it was suggested that he should make his will, to which he replied: "God knows, I have not a penny under the sun to leave anyone." His last thoughts were of his people in Dublin: "Alas, you poor, foolish people, what will you do now? Who will take care of you in your trouble? Who will help you?"
Ua Tuathail was well-known as an ascetic, wore a hair shirt, never ate meat, and fasted every Friday on bread and water. In contrast to this, it is said that when he entertained, his guests lacked for nothing while he drank water coloured to look like wine so as not to spoil the feast. Each Lent he returned to Glendalough to make a forty days' retreat in St. Kevin's Cave on a precipice of Lugduff Mountain over the Upper Lake.
Due to the claimed great number of miracles that rapidly occurred either at his tomb or through his intercession, he was canonized only 45 years after his death.
St Laurence's skull was brought to England in 1442 by a nobleman named Sir Rowland Standish (relation of Myles Standish) who had fought at Agincourt. The bones were interred at the parish church of Chorley in England, now named St. Laurence's. The bones disappeared in the Reformation under Henry VIII's rule. Although mainly revered by Roman Catholics, his heart was preserved in the Anglican-affiliated Church of Ireland's Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin from the 13th century until March 3rd 2012 when it was stolen. The Dean of Christ Church Cathedral and the Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough, the Most Reverend Dermot Dunne stated "I am devastated that one of the treasured artifacts of the cathedral is stolen".